USAP Paid Envision $9 Million to Stay Out of Dallas per FTC; Union Updates, Krewe Acquired

USAP allegedly paid a competitor $9 million to stay out of the Dallas market. A Texas teachers' pension system says it's paying twice the going rate for anesthesia because of it. Joe Rodriguez (Chief Growth Officer, Guide Anesthesia) is joined by Tracy Young (COO, Essential Anesthesia) and Gary Keeling (VP, Anesthesia Services at Coronis Health) to unpack the USAP consolidation fallout, why anesthesia pay works the way it does, and the debt mechanics behind CHG Healthcare's acquisition of Krewe Anesthesia.

First: Representative Tom Oliverson's Houston Chronicle testimony and the Texas Teacher Retirement System's claim that USAP charges double the going rate, including the allegation that USAP paid Envision $9 million to stay out of the Dallas market entirely. Tracy makes the business case for what USAP did before making the ethics case against how they did it.

Second: why anesthesiologists and CRNAs actually get paid what they get paid, and why "fair" isn't a market principle derived from your length of training. It's derived from what two parties subjectively determine.

Third: CHG Healthcare's acquisition of Krewe Anesthesia, traced back through Leonard Green Partners and the collapse of Crozer Health. Tracy breaks down how debt-funded acquisitions work and why the model only survives as long as interest rates stay low.

Plus: Joe's three-part fix for what's actually driving healthcare costs, and a listener question on practicing anesthesia in New York.

Takeaways:

1. Comparing anesthesia rates to "the market average" is meaningless. Most rates are too compressed to cover the actual cost of staffing anesthesia care.
2. Anesthesiologists and CRNAs get paid what they get paid for one reason: that's what the market is willing to pay. Supply and demand, not sympathy or spin.
3. Fairness is not a market principle, per se. Compensation is only ever what a buyer is willing to pay and a provider is willing to accept.
4. Locums companies are becoming management companies because hospitals want one vendor to own the whole staffing headache, not five vendors to coordinate.
5. Solving healthcare costs at the system level takes three things: real investment in public health, broad coverage delivered privately, and better use of the professionals already in the system.

Want more Dr. Joe Rodriguez?

Tik Tok: @jrodcrna21

Instagram: @jrod.crna & @abouttherestpod

YouTube: @AboutTheRest

Thanks for my co-hosts:

Randy Moore (EVP & National Chief CRNA, NorthStar Anesthesia)

Gary Keeling (VP of Anesthesia Services, Coronis RCM)

To Learn More about Human Content Visit: ⁠⁠⁠http://www.human-content.com⁠⁠⁠

To Learn More about About The Rest Visit: www.abouttherest.com

Got a Question? hello@abouttherest.com

Part of the Human Content Podcast Network

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices